Hope Found in a Child
Notes
Transcript
This Christmas season we remember that the message of Christmas is one of hope. Hope is actually the basis of our faith.
The Bible tells us that faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things unseen.
Story of seeing Carlo’s family last Wednesday.
hardest service to officiate
I thought I was going to conduct a funeral service
I walked into a different scene
Gave the family time
When I finally was able to talk..
I can only talk of the hope found in Jesus in John 11.
The good thing is that Carlo was a believer in Jesus, his last text to his sister before he passed away was “I am finally going to see my Lord.”
The family too was comforted by the words of scripture.
The world tells us that there are stages of grief that starts with denial and ends in acceptance. But for those who made Jesus Lord of their lives, it is the presence of the Spirit of God and the HOPE of the coming of the Lord that keeps them going in times of loss and disaster.
When Isaiah wrote the book that bears his name, he pronounced a coming disaster to the southern kingdom of Judah where he served as prophet because of their disobedience and their worship of other gods. HE also prophesied judgement on the northern kingdom of Israel and the nations around them.
But what is awesome about Isaiah is that while he prophesied doom that was to come, he was also prophesying hope for the whole nation.
Hope in the coming of a child.
Hope in the coming of an eternal kingdom.
Now, 2700 years after Isaiah, we no longer look forward to the birth of a child but rather we look back..
The baby Jesus was born in a lowly manger, the picture is that He chose to come to the lowliest of places.
The irony of the eternal One entering into time.
The irony of royalty being joined with the ordinary.
The irony of the richest One joining us in our poverty.
The irony of the highly exalted One joining a very lowly state.
The light entering our world of darkness.
This is such a wonderful thing, a glorious event.
The irony of it all is that this most wonderful phenomenon came in the form of a baby.
Isaiah 7 and 9 talked about this child who is to be born.
14 Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.
In Jewish or Semitic thought, a name does not just identify or distinguish a person, it expresses the very nature of His being.
Jesus is our Immanuel Who is God Himself Who became with us when He came as a human being, and is ever with us through His Holy Spirit Who lives in us. Someday, He will be with us when He returns:
3 And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God.
Isaiah goes on to talk about this child Who is the hope of the whole world:
6 For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
“For to us a child is born, to us a son is given”
It seems just a repetition, but it is not.
Isaiah here distinguishes Jesus’ humanity from his divinity.
Child had to be born a human being. Jesus represented perfect humanity before the fall - he was totally sinless.
You know the excuse that people make when they make a mistake, “I’m only human”. examples..
ooops sorry I am just human.
When you look at the perfect life of the Son of God, you will see that using the excuse “I am human” is wrong. Because Jesus was fully human and yet He was perfect. The difference was...
The more accurate and Biblical thing to say is “I am a fallen human”.. so next time u ...
A Son is given, the Son of God, the second person of the Godhead, existed in eternity and therefore while the human side of Jesus was born, His divine side has to be given.
“For God so love the world, that HE GAVE.. His only begotten Son.”
“And the government will be upon His shoulder..”
Are you just so frustrated with human government, the inefficiency, the politics, the corruption in high places today..
Don’t fret - Jesus very soon will establish the perfect government in coming Kingdom here on earth.
“And His Name will be called:
Jesus is Wonderful - wondrous, miraculous
We must be filled with wonder of our Lord and expect a miracle.
Jesus is Counselor - wise counsel and it is a faithful counsel.
Wise - best guide and necessary for your life
Faithful - there is absolutely no self-interest, he empathizes with you, sweet counsel, pour out your heart before Him.. love, His fellowship is more than enough.
Jesus is the Mighty God
No question about His deity.
Jesus is the Everlasting Father - source or author of all eternity of all things.
Jesus is the Prince of peace - Peace is not just the calm and quiet. Peace that reconciled man to God.
That is the hope that the child in the manger should remind us of. That true the cross..
20 and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross.
This is our mission as ambassadors of Christ. Let us bring that hope to the world.
People are wrestling with fear and anxiety about the uncertainty of the future, including jobs, finances, family, health concerns, etc. The one thing that almost all people have in common is that they’re searching for something that gives them hope.
In many ways, hope is about perspective. When we have faith in Christ, we have hope for things eternal, things that will never decay or waste away.
Hope is in a person, we no longer wait for a child to come, we have a living hope that is why we fulfill the Great Commission so that through that living hope that is spread to a lost and dying world, we would usher in the day when hope becomes reality and faith no longer is unseen, when we see the Lord Jesus face to face.
“A Christian’s hope isn’t an escape or wishful thinking, but something that a Christian is meant to do.” - C.S. Lewis
Let me end with these triumphant words of victory:
7 Of the increase of his government and of peace there will be no end, on the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish it and to uphold it with justice and with righteousness from this time forth and forevermore. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this.